Team 1 List

is former Professor and present Fellow at Netaji Institute for Asian Studies, Kolkata and author of The Actress in the Public Theatres of Calcutta; The Music of Nationhood: Dwijendralal Roy of Bengal; Knowing Asia: being Asian: Cosmopolitanism and Nationalism in Bengali periodicals 1870-1940 and Wandering Women: Travel Writings in Bengali Periodicals 1900-1940.

is former Director of the Allahabad Museum, a national level museum under the Ministry of Culture, Government of India. Post retirement, he served as Officer on Special Duty at the Prime Ministers Museum, New Delhi. Dr. Gupta has been visiting scholar at Ghent University (Belgium), the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (Berlin) and the Centre for the World in the Viking Age, Uppsala University (Sweden). Dr. Gupta has published extensively on national and international platforms and is the editor of the Journal of Indian Ocean Archaeology, published by the Indian Archaeological Society

is an Associate Professor, Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, University of Delhi, India. His research interests include literary history, translation, and print culture. He has co-edited Critical Discourse in Odia (2022) and Natabara Samantaray: A Reader (2017). He is currently translating a pre-colonial Odia chronicle Madala Panji.

is a PhD scholar of English at School of Humanities, Social Sciences and Management, IIT Bhubaneswar. Her research interests include Travel Narratives, Women’s Writing, Autobiography and Indian Literature. Her research papers, book chapters, and book reviews explore these interests. She has also presented her research at international and national seminars.

A practicing artist, Rajeev Lochan, Former Director, National Gallery of Modern Art, had been at the helm of affairs of the institution for over 16 years (from 2001 to 2016). The aim of Prof. Lochan has been to take art beyond the four walls of any institution and engage the mass in vibrant cultural activities. He has mounted innumerable exhibitions and had contributed enormously in the academic realm, both nationally and internationally.

is an independent transdisciplinary researcher, historian of science and the Obaid Siddiqi Chair for the History and Culture of Science (2024-25) at the National Centre for the Biological Sciences, Bengaluru, India. She earned her doctorate from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), Lomdon, UK, in 2003.

is a Doctoral Researcher in Political Science at Ravenshaw University, Cuttack, India. He was a Research Associate for an Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) project on India’s civilisational ties with Southeast Asia. His current work focuses on Japanese national identity, strategic culture, and post-war memory politics in East Asia.

is Assistant Professor of English in the School of Humanities, Social Sciences, and Management at IIT Bhubaneswar, India. Her research interests include contemporary American literature, women’s literature, road narratives, feminist theory, gender studies, and gender-based violence. Her essays have appeared in international journals of repute such as Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction, LIT: Literature Interpretation Theory, Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics, Visual Studies, and The Explicator, among others. Her recent works include a co-edited volume entitled Gendered Violence in Public Spaces: Women’s Narratives of Travel in Neoliberal India from Lexington Books, USA.

Assistant Professor, Amity Institute of English Studies and Research, Amity University Kolkata, has worked as a post-doctoral research fellow and as a Research Associate at the Institute of Development Studies Kolkata. She obtained her PhD from the Faculty of Arts, Jadavpur University, Kolkata. Her publications include women’s travel writing, marriage and intermediation in global India, translations of articles, book reviews, reports in various journals, edited volumes and newsletters and editorials.

is Assistant Professor at Centre for Japanese Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. Previously she was Assistant Professor (Ad-Hoc) at the Department of East Asian Studies, University of Delhi. She holds a PhD from Osaka University. Her area of interests includes Japanese literature and culture. Her research focuses on postwar Japanese travel writings on India and has also worked on travel accounts by Indian travellers to Japan. She has published articles and book chapters in peer reviewed journals and edited volumes and has translated short stories from Japanese into Hindi.

is a Research Associate at FSR Global, a division of the Florence School of Regulation (FSR). A PhD from JNU, she is a recipient of the Japan Foundation Fellowship and was the Visiting Researcher at the University of Tokyo in 2021. She is the co-editor of India-Japan Relations @70: Building Beyond the Bilateral (2022).

President of the Mombusho Scholars’ Association of India since 1986, was a MEXT scholar at Kyoto University (1963-66), and a diplomat Science Attaché, Indian Embassy, Tokyo (1974-78). He was actively involved with DST, Govt. of India; Commonwealth Science Council, London; and CSIR’s National Institute of Science Technology & Development Studies. He is currently in the Society and Development studies, University of Delhi, India. He is a Fellow of National Academy of Sciences, India and founding member of Forum for Global Knowledge Sharing.

is the Bombay History Fellow at Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations, a foreign policy think tank in Mumbai. She was awarded the 2018-19 Herbert Katz Fellowship for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania for her ongoing project on “Karachi’s Jewish Community.” Her publications include: Mercantile Bombay: a journey of trade, finance, and enterprise (February 2022); and Our Legacy: the Dwarkadas family of Bombay (March 2018).

Was Professor in the Department of East Asian Studies, University of Delhi, Delhi, India. Her research interest is the history of Meiji Japan. Recipient of the Japan Foundation Fellowships (1987-88 and 2001) she was affiliated with the University of Tokyo, for her doctoral and post-doctoral research. She was also a visiting research-scholar at Stanford University, CA, USA in 2002.

President of India-Japan Friendship Forum, India, joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1979. Deepa Gopalan Wadhwa has been India’s Ambassador to the Gulf State of Qatar, Japan, Sweden, Latvia, Republic of Marshall Islands and served twice in China, besides stints in Switzerland and Netherlands. She was instrumental in the active promotion of India’s economic interests in the areas of trade, technology, investments and energy security.

is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Japanese, Visva-Bharati, West Bengal, India. He did Ph.D. in Japanese at Visva-Bharati, and was a JSPS Postdoctoral Fellow at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies (2022–2024). He was awarded grant (2025-2026) for Japan-Related Research in Asia by The Sumitomo Foundation. His research interest relates to lesser-known historical connections between India and Japan.

is an Associate Professor in the School of Humanities, Social Sciences and Management, IIT Bhubaneswar. She researches in Life Writings, Travel Writing, Popular Media and Culture. Her publications include two books: Shifting Images: The Idea of England in Indian Writing in English (2011) and Limning London (2016); several papers in reputed journals and chapters in books. She is also a reviewer for IGI Global, Routledge, Taylor and Francis, Orient Black Swan, John Hopkins Press, etc.

is a Theatre Director and Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) Post-Doctoral Fellow, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara, India. He specialises in classical Indian dramaturgy, post-colonial theatre, and intercultural performance. He is the recipient of several national and international awards for theatre direction.

associated with Fashion Design at Indian Institute of Art & Design, New Delhi, is strongly influenced by her Indian identity rooted in traditional skills, Saumya’s creative practice spans textile, craft conservation, fashion, illustration and dance, constantly pushing the confines of mind, body and space. As a textile revivalist and professor of design, she is currently writing a book on Kheta (lesser documented embroidered quilts of Shershabadis) and complete her field research on the weaving village of Kuthampully, Kerala. She learns, unlearns and teaches with seeds, pods and baskets.

is a retired professor of Centre of Japanese Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India. His specialization is Japanese Language and Modern Japanese Literature, and he has done extensive research on a great literary figure Miyazawa Kenji (1896-1933). Prof. George has published several research papers, authored, edited and translated several books in Japanese, English and Malayalam. He was visiting professor to many Japanese Universities. He is recipient of many awards and honours: Miyazawa Kenji Shoreisho Award (2002), Japanese Foreign Minister’s Commendation (2016), and The Order of the Rising Sun (2024).

a well-known educationist, columnist and author, describes himself as a ‘public un-intellectual.’ He was President NASSCOM from 2001 to 2008, and Director on the Board of Reserve Bank of India (2011-15). As founder-CEO of Discovery India (1995-2001), he launched Discovery Channel and Animal Planet in India and South Asia. He has been a member of a number of high-level government committees and is currently Chairperson of HelpAge India.

did his doctoral studies in Economics. He was awarded the Homi Bhabha Fellowship in 2004-07 to work on Global Commons. In 2012, he was appointed Visiting Fellow at the United Nations University (Institute of Advanced Studies) in Japan. Apart from his work on global commons, Damodaran has specialised in the management of arts organisation and has several publications on this theme. Damodaran has been deeply involved with Japanese society and culture, having held academic positions at Chiba and Yokohama. His latest book is titled Managing Arts in Pandemic Times and Beyond (Oxford University Press, 2022), profiles and analyses performing arts organisations of India and Japan, amongst others. Since 2005, he has been a Professor at Indian Institute of Management Bangalore.

is a faculty at the Centre for Japanese Studies, JNU since 2002. She has worked on portrayal of India in Modern Japanese fiction in her Ph.D. thesis. She has continued to explore the theme in other genres as well. She has written many book chapters, journal articles, and co-authored school level textbooks for Japanese at class 6,7,8. Her research interests also include Comparative culture and Children’s literature.

is a writer, poet, playwright, photographer, and traveller. Rituparna has published over 20 books, including Japan Ki Lok Kathyaein, Japan Mein Hindi Shikshan ki Parampara, Ekkis Japani Lok-Kathayen and Hiroshima Ki Yaad Evam Anya Kavitayen. He is the recipient of ‘Father Camil Bulke Samman,; ‘Videsh Hindi Prasar Samman,’ ‘Hindi Bhushan Award,’ ‘Hindi Nidhi Samman,’ ‘Saraswati Saahitya Samman’ and ‘Saahitya Shiromani Samman’. Rituparna retired as a Visiting Professor from Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. Besides, Japan, he has also taught Hindi in Trinidad and Tobago, Mauritius, and at Delhi University (India). He is an ex-Diplomat who started the first ever Hindi course at the University of the West Indies and also in the High Commission of India, Port of Spain. Currently, he is the Director of K.K. Birla Foundation, and is also the editor of Hindi Jagat.

is a distinguished professor (retired) of the History of Science and Education at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He is associated with numerous universities in India and abroad and held visiting fellowships at Cambridge, London, Leiden, and the Smithsonian Institution. He also taught at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and York University, Toronto. His seminal work, Science and the Raj

is former Professor of English at Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan, India. A recipient of several prestigious fellowships and awards, she has to her credit many research papers and books published widely both nationally and internationally. Her areas of interest are film and culture studies, contemporary fiction, diaspora studies, travel narratives, and translation.

is an Associate Professor of English in Indraprastha College, University of Delhi. She did her post-graduation from Jadavpur University, Kolkata, and PhD from Jawaharlal University. She is the author of The Partition of Bengal: Fragile Borders and New Identities (2016). She has also written on Bangla SF, 19th century Bangla theatre; and her translations of women’s short and long fiction from Bangladesh and West Bengal have been published in various anthology.

is currently teaching in the Department of English, School of Humanities, Netaji Subhas Open University, Kolkata. Prior to this, he had taught in the University of Burdwan, West Bengal. Recipient of several national and international awards, Prof. Himadri Lahiri was also a Member of the Jury for Sahitya Akademi Prizes. He has edited, co-edited and authored several books, including Nationalism and the Indian Subcontinent: Contemporary Cultural Reflections (2025), Asia Travels: Pan-Asian Cultural Discourses and Diasporic Asian Literature/s (2021) and Diaspora Theory and Transnationalism (2019).

is currently an Adjunct Researcher at the National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics, Tokyo, Japan. Previously, he was an Assistant Professor at the English and Foreign Languages University (2009-2024), Hyderabad, India. Some of his edited publications include: Japanese Language Education in South Asia: What Does South Asia Need? (2024) and Teaching Methodologies in Japanese Language Education in India (2019). He is also involved with an online forum called, Sekai To Watashi (https://sites.google.com/view/sekaitowatashi/). This is open to Japanese language users including native speakers, and is aimed at facilitating intercultural dialogue using Japanese.

is a distinguished archaeologist and pioneer underwater archaeologist in India. He is a PhD from Jiwaji University, Gwalior. Dr. Tripathi is the former Additional Director General of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and currently a Professor at Assam University, Silchar; and the Director, Centre for Archaeology and Museology.

is presently pursuing Ph.D at Centre for Comparative Literature, Visva-Bharati, West Bengal, India. She completed her M.Phil in Comparative Literature in 2020. The broad area of her research consists of Bangla travel writings authored during nineteenth and early twentieth century. Her interests are focused on East-Asian popular culture and literature.

an artist of Japanese origin, has lived in India for over three decades. Born in 1962, Osaka, Japan, Lochan completed her undergraduate studies and obtained a Master’s in painting from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Kyoto City University of Arts. She has participated in many group and solo exhibitions in Japan and in India. Lochan's paintings are an amalgamation of her Japanese roots and her experiences of India assimilated over the years. She has been actively exhibiting her works, participating in group exhibitions and national level exhibitions, as well as holding solo exhibitions in India and Japan.

is a cross-cultural theorist specialising in the artistic connections between India and Japan. She has developed and taught courses in art history and academic writing at leading institutions like the Bombay Institute for Critical Analysis and Research (BICAR) and Jnanapravaha Mumbai. An ex-banker she takes an inter-disciplinary view in her research, which includes looking at historical trade connections, socio-political developments and ancient religious crossovers.

is professor of English at Jadavpur University and director, Jadavpur University Press and the School of Cultural Texts and Records. He was co-editor, along with Swapan Chakravorty, of the Book History in India series, of which four volumes have been published: Print Areas (2004), Moveable Types (2008), New Word Order (2011) and Founts of Knowledge (2015). A fifth volume Formes of Expression is due out in 2025. He was associate editor for South Asia for the Oxford Companion to the Book (2010). His latest book, The Spread of Print in Colonial India: into the Hinterland came out in 2021 from Cambridge University Press.

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is an established author, journalist and artist who has published 4 books on Asian cultural traditions. She presented an Art exhibition of "Mural arts Traditions - From Tanjore to Toji" at the Asian Arts Museum, San Francisco in 2005. Presently she runs Girls'Home for the underprivileged children in the South Indian village of Manjakkudi.

Adjunct Professor, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, is a film-maker, art-historian and an avid photographer. His penchant for Asian monuments and art heritage is evident from his 146 documentaries which are regularly screened at major cultural institutions worldwide, and a huge wealth of 53,000 photographs. Stories of his pioneering works have been carried by the National Geographic magazine and BBC World News.

former Professor and Chairperson, Centre for Japanese Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), has been a visiting Professor at several Indian and Japanese institutions, recipient of Japan Foundation Fellowships and President of Japanese Langugae Teachers Association of India. Besides research papers, her publications include Structures of Japanese and Hindi and Japan the Living Culture.

A PhD from Visvabharati, Santiniketan has taught in the National Museum Institute of History of Art, New Delhi; Museology and Conservation and Restoration of Art, New Delhi; and at Indira Gandhi National Centre of Arts, New Delhi. Her major publications include: Indian Influence on the Art of Japan (538-1333 AD) (2010); Fudo Myo-O (Acalanatha Vidyaraja) in Art and Iconography of Japan (2011); and Assimilation of Brahmanism into Buddhism (2017).

Specializes in the maritime history of the west coast of India and the western Indian Ocean. She chiefly researches on trans-regional and trans-oceanic commodity exchange, maritime trading networks, diaspora and community studies, business history, oral history and violence at sea. She has authored two books on the maritime trading linkages of Kachchh titled The Call of the Sea, Kachchhi Traders in Muscat and Zanzibar c.1800-1880 (Orient BlackSwan 2011) and Globalization Before its Time: Gujarati Merchants from Kachchh (Penguin Books 2016).

An alumnus of University of Agricultural Sciences, Bengaluru, Mr. Mukund Kirsur has a Masters in Seed Technology. A seasoned science writer and communicator, he started his career as a researcher and also taught agriculture. Later, he worked as a Sr. Scientist in Central Silk Board Ministry of Textiles, Govt. of India where he edited Indian Silk - an industrial monthly. He has served as Media Advisor to the Ho'ble Chairman Central Silk Board, Min. Of Textiles., Govt. of India. He has about 450 publications including books, booklets, coffee table books. Manuals, articles, research publications and other multimedia contributions. Now he works as a media consultant.

is a very versatile practicing artist, a design practitioner and an educator. She has headed the FD and FC Departments of NIFT, Art Education Department at NCERT, GCA Chandigarh, Kaladarsana, IGNCA and was the former Director of MGCA Traditional Textile Museum, Cambodia. To her credit are several exhibitions and published papers. She holds a post-graduate degree in Fine Arts from MS University, Fellowship from NID, Advanced Printmaking from RCA, London and Fashion Orientation from FIT, New York.

is Professor of Japanese Studies in the Department of East Asian Studies, University of Delhi. She has also taught at the Nagoya State University in Japan. She did PhD in Religious studies from the University of Tokyo, Japan. Her book, Engaged Buddhism in Japan (Tokyo, 2005 in Japanese) won two academic awards in Japan. Her recent publication is Buddhist Exchanges between India and Japan: Japanese Buddhist Encountering India and Modern Buddhist Studies, Ranjana Mukhopadhyaya and Togawa Masahiko (ed.), London and New York: Routledge, 2025.

is a Professor of the Japanese Studies Centre for East Asian Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, India.

Awarded Commendation for Promotion of Japanese Studies 2024 by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tokyo, Japan.

Currently Japan Foundation Indo-Pacific Fellow 2024-25

Her edited books include Japan- SAARC Partnership: A Way Ahead (2014), India-Japan Relations @ 70: Building Beyond Bilateral (2022). The Indo-Pacific Theatre: Strategic Visions and Frameworks (2023), Japan and Its Partners in the Indo-Pacific: Engagements and Alignment (2023), India-Japan Partnership: Abe the Game Changer (2024), India-Japan and Beyond (2024).

Visiting scholar at the Policy Research Institute (2011), Kobe University (2014), Nagoya University (2019), Keio University (2022), and the University of Navarra (2024).

Served as Chairperson of CEAS/JNU ( 2020-2022) and editor of Journal of International Studies, Sage publication.